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Rialto Police Department officer Michael Martinez gets a drivers license from a women who was caught on her tablet while driving on Thursday, April 12, 2018 in Rialto. The police department held an operation to catch distracted drivers on their phones or committing other traffic violations.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Few people paid attention to the cardboard sign the suspiciously clean-cut young man wearing sunglasses was holding as he stood on the Riverside Avenue off-ramp of the westbound 10 Freeway Thursday morning. If they had, they would have noticed it read, “Talking & Texting while driving KILLS! If you’re on a cellphone right now, you’re about to get a ticket from Rialto PD.”

As part of Distracted Driving Awareness Month, Rialto police launched a 3½-hour-long operation at the off-ramp targeting drivers distracted by their cellphones and other electronic devices. Officers handed out 108 citations.

“But we’re not looking to write a lot of citations. For us a successful operation would be if we handed out zero,” said Sgt. Cameron Nelson.

A Rialto Police officer in plain clothes stands at the westbound 10 freeway offramp at Riverside Ave. in Rialto during an operation to catch distracted motorist on Thursday, April 12, 2018. The sign he holds warns drivers that if they are on their phones, they are about to receive a ticket.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Rialto Police Department officer Nick Besheer pulls over a motorist who committed a red light violation on Thursday, April 12, 2018 in Rialto. The police department held an operation to catch distracted drivers on their phones or committing other traffic violations.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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Rialto Police Department field training officer David Padilla writes a ticket to motorist who committed a red light violation on Thursday, April 12, 2018 in Rialto. The police department held an operation to catch distracted drivers on their phones or committing other traffic violations.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Rialto Police Department field training officer David Padilla gets a drivers license from a man who committed a red light violation on Thursday, April 12, 2018 in Rialto. The police department held an operation to catch distracted drivers on their phones or committing other traffic violations.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Rialto Police Department officer Michael Martinez gets a drivers license from a women who was caught on her tablet while driving on Thursday, April 12, 2018 in Rialto. The police department held an operation to catch distracted drivers on their phones or committing other traffic violations.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A pair of Rialto Police officers parked at the corner of Valley Blvd. and Riverside Ave. wait for a call during an operation to catch distracted motorist on Thursday, April 12, 2018.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A pair of Rialto Police motor officers parked on Riverside Ave. wait for the call during an operation to catch distracted motorist on Thursday, April 12, 2018.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A Rialto Police motor officer parked on Riverside Ave. waits for the call during an operation to catch distracted motorist on Thursday, April 12, 2018.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A Rialto Police officer in plain clothes wears a video camera attached to his glasses at the westbound 10 freeway offramp at Riverside Ave. in Rialto during an operation to catch distracted motorist on Thursday, April 12, 2018. The sign he holds warns drivers that if they are on their phones, they are about to receive a ticket.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A Rialto Police officer in plain clothes, left, stands at the westbound 10 freeway offramp at Riverside Ave. in Rialto during an operation to catch distracted motorist on Thursday, April 12, 2018. The sign he holds warns drivers that if they are on their phones, they are about to receive a ticket.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A Rialto Police officer in plain clothes stands at the westbound 10 freeway offramp at Riverside Ave. in Rialto during an operation to catch distracted motorist on Thursday, April 12, 2018. The sign he holds warns drivers that if they are on their phones, they are about to receive a ticket.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A Rialto Police officer in plain clothes stands at the westbound 10 freeway offramp at Riverside Ave. in Rialto during an operation to catch distracted motorist on Thursday, April 12, 2018. The sign he holds warns drivers that if they are on their phones, they are about to receive a ticket.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Although there has been a steady drop in the number of distracted driving-related crashes across the state, San Bernardino County may be among the riskier places for distracted driving.

In a 2017 study where researchers spent four months observing vehicles at more than 200 locations in 17 counties, they found that 8.2 percent of drivers in San Bernardino County were using a hand-held or hands-free device.

That was the highest percentage by far. Orange County ranked fifth with 2.7 percent of drivers, Los Angeles County was eighth with 2.5 percent and Riverside County was 10th with 2.3 percent.

“I drive trucks so I see it every day,” Danny Ellis of Redlands said. “I guarantee that six or seven times out of 10, when I pull up next to someone they’re on their cellphones. I guess they have no regard for their lives or anyone else’s.”

In the decade since “hands-free” became the law in the state, the number of crashes associated with distracted driving has dropped, but still remains a safety issue on California roads.

In California, almost 22,000 drivers were involved in a distracted-driving collision, according to preliminary data for 2017 collected by the state Office of Traffic Safety.

Rialto police along with hundreds of other law enforcement agencies across the state will place special emphasis on enforcing all cellphone and distracted driving laws this month.

Anyone caught illegally using an electronic device faces a ticket that will cost them at least $161 — more for a second violation or if they’re in a county that tacks on additional small fees, said OTS spokesman Wayne Ziese.

Other kinds of distractions may not have their own vehicle code section, but anything that causes a moving violation — weaving, driving too fast or slow, running a stop sign, hitting something — can lead to a ticket as well, he said.

“From an officer’s standpoint, texting and talking on a cellphone looks like a DUI,” California Highway Patrol Officer Jesse Garcia said. “Violators weave, speed up and slow down. Clearly, this behavior is unsafe while operating a vehicle.”

The toll of distracted driving is tricky to measure, because it’s difficult to know for certain whether a driver was distracted — by a phone, the radio, a french fry, a conversation with a passenger or just their own wandering mind — at the time of a crash.

Using a cellphone while driving is the most frequent form of distraction, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and it’s illegal. There are other legal forms of distraction, including eating, drinking, changing the radio station, applying makeup and reading a roadmap, which can be just as dangerous, Garcia said.

Nationwide, 3,477 people died and an estimated 391,000 were injured in crashes in 2015 where a driver was distracted, and another 551 pedestrians, bicyclists and others were killed in “distraction-affected crashes” where it may not have been the driver who was distracted, according to the NTHSA.

That’s just the number where a report indicates distraction was a factor, Ziese said.

“Probably a huge portion of all crashes have an issue with distracted driving,” he said.

About half of the respondents in a 2017 OTS survey admitted breaking the law by texting, emailing or talking on a hand-held phone while driving in the past 30 days.

It’s not that people don’t know it’s dangerous. In the same survey, more people ranked talking or texting on a cellphone as the biggest road-safety problem than drunk driving; only speeding or aggressive driving ranked higher.

“Simply knowing the risks of distracted driving has not yet translated into reducing the behavior,” according to an NTHSA report.

But looking for even 4 or 5 seconds can mean you’re driving the length of a football field or more with your eyes off the road, if you’re going 55 mph or faster, he said.

Since the beginning of 2017, California law has prohibited any use of a hand-held electronic device while driving. Drivers younger than 18 can’t use hands-free devices, either.

Drivers 18 and older can use hands-free devices — a phone that’s totally voice-activated, for example — or a hand-held device that’s mounted to the windshield or dashboard in a way that doesn’t interfere with airbags or driver operation, if it only needs one swipe or touch of a finger.

He also noted that you can’t pull out your phone to text while you’re stopped at a red light; moving or not, the vehicle is in operation.

Ziese said other common problematic behaviors include having a pet in the driver’s lap, eating and drinking, talking to passengers or paying attention to children making a fuss in the backseat.

“Many people say they can multitask, but in reality, you need to pay full attention,” he said.

Even though using hands-free devices while driving remains legal in California, studies indicate it may be just as distracting as using hand-held devices. “Just drive” is the mantra Ziese and others repeat to encourage people to eliminate all phone use and other distractions when they’re behind the wheel.

There are some positive signs from 2017. The number of crashes blamed on distracted driving in California was down by one-third from 2007, the last full year before California’s initial hands-free law went into effect. Also last year, a survey found the number of drivers observed using a hand-held phone was lower than the two previous years.

Ziese said enforcement of the law and education about the consequences of distracted driving remain key.

“Sadly, unfortunately, a crash often turns out to be an education,” he lamented. “The impact of their decision, their choice, is damage or injury or death.”

Authorities offer the following tips for safe driving:

Pull over and park to respond or read a text message, but never on a freeway.

Designate a passenger as a”designated texter.”

Do not engage in social media scrolling or messaging while driving.

Cellphone use can be habit-forming. Struggling to not text and drive? Put the cellphone in the trunk or back seat until arriving at the final destination.

Beatriz E. Valenzuela is an award-winning journalist who’s covered breaking news in Southern California since 2006 and has been on the front lines of several national and international news events. She’s worked for media outlets serving Southern California readers covering education, local government, entertainment and all things nerd including comic book culture and video games. She’s an amateur obstacle course racer, constant fact-checker, mother of three and lover of all things adorable.

Nikie Johnson is a data reporter for Southern California News Group, using numbers and public records to uncover meaningful stories. If she can color-code a spreadsheet, it’s a good day. Previously she was breaking news editor for SCNG’s Inland newspapers (The Press-Enterprise, the Sun, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and the Redlands Daily Facts) and all sorts of things for the P-E before that (web/social editor, Hemet bureau editor, copy editor, salsa maker in chief). She’s a proud University of Houston alumna and a native Nebraska Cornhusker.